Bag-fastener.



No. 70l,537. Patented June 3, I902.

G. M. BUSKEY. BAG FASTENER.

(Application filed Juim 21, 1901.

(.No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

GEORGE MARTEN BUSKEY, OF CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND.

BAG FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 701,537, dated June 3, 1902.

Application filed June 21,1901. Serial No. 65,476. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, GEORGE MARTEN BUS- KEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cumberland, in the county of Allegany and State of Maryland, have invented a certain new and useful Bag-Fastener, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawin gs.

This invention relates to bagfasteners; and the object in View is to provide a bagfastener of such character as to render the bag when closed by means of the fastener non-refillable to the extent that the bag cannot be used again or refilled without so mutilating the bag as to make it plain to every one that the baghas been opened and access had to the contents thereof. In other words, in order to open the bag and obtain access to the contents thereof it is necessary to destroy the original appearance of the bag by removing or severing a portion of the neck or mouth of the bag.

The primary object of the invention is to protect millers and manufacturers of flour by preventing unscrupulous persons from repeatedly using bags having represented thereon the trade-mark or other distinguishing symbols indicating the brand of flour and the name of the mill or company placing the product upon the market.

With the above and other objects in view, the nature of which will appear more fully as the description proceeds,the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement hereinafter fully described, illustrated, and claimed. 7

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a bag, showing the fastener of this invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective View showing that portion of the bag, together with the fastenenwhich has to be removed in order to give access to the contents of the bag. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the fastener as it appears after it has been applied to the bag, omitting the latter. Fig. 4. is a plan view of the fastener in its original form before application to a bag, said view also illustrating a protracted section taken on the indicating dotted line and in the direction indicated by the arrow.

{ .Similar nu merals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Thefastenercontemplatedinthisinvention is designed with special reference to its application to the ordinary paper bags or sacks in which flour is packed and by means of which flour is placed on the market and sold by wholesalers and retailers.

The fastener hereinafter described is of course applicable to textile and other sacks. In order to illustrate the application of the fastener, I have shown in Fig. 1 a portion of an ordinary flour bag or sack, the body of which is represented at 1 and the neck or mouth 2 of which is gathered or crushed together to receive the fastener, (indicated at 3.)

The fastener in its original form is in the shape of a staple, as shown in Fig. a, such staple comprising the parallel terminal portions 4 and the connecting cross portion 5,

from a strip of metal having oppositely-located flat sides 6 and rounded edges 7. The extremities of the terminal portions are also beveled or chamfered from opposite sides to form penetrating prongs or points 8, which are adapted to be thrust into the material of the bag at the neck or closure thereof, so as to effectively retain the fastener as a whole in place upon the mouth of the bag and prevent it from working loose thereon during the transportation and handling of the bags after they have been filled.

In order to apply a fastener securely to the mouth of the bag, resort is had to a special appliance or machine, which will be made the subject-matter of a separate and independent application. Said machine in its operation upon the fastener turns the points 8 backward and inward in the manner illustrated in full lines in Fig. 3 and also as illustrated in Fig. 2, so as to force the points together and simultaneously cause the points to indent and partially penetrate the material of the bag or pass between the folds or gathers at the neck thereof. The material of which the fastener is formed is of sufficient gage and stiifness to prevent the fastener from being bent open and removed from the neck of the bag with any ordinary implement, and the difficulty of opening the fastener is increased by the parthe parts -i and 5 being formed in one piece ticular manner of recurving or bending backward the extremities of the fastener and forcing them into the material of the bag. In this feature resides one of the principal aims and advantages of the present invention, as by making the fastener of heavy or stout material when such fastener is applied with considerable force derived from a suitable machine to and about the neck of the bag it will be a matter of extreme difficulty for any one to remove the fastener without mutilating the bag.

In order to obtain access to the contents of the bag, it is necessary to sever the neck of the bag by passing the blade of a knife or other suitable cutter through the neck of the bag beneath the fastener 3, thereby removing the greater portion of the neck of the bag, together with the fastener thereon, such removed portion of the bag being illustrated in Fig. 2. In such removal of the neck and fastener of the bag the original appearance of the bag is of course destroyed, making it perfectly apparent to every one that access has been had to the bag and warning intending purchasers. In this way the manufacturers of the flour or original contents of the bag are to a great extent protected and unscrupulous persons are prevented from repeatedly using bags to which the fastener of this invention has been applied. It will thus be seen that the bag as a whole is non-refillable, as a portion thereof is necessarily removed in opening the bag and getting at the contents thereof.

Iam aware that fastening devices have been employed for bags, such fastening devices consisting of spring-wire or metal strips bent to encircle the neck of the bag; but as far as I am advised no one has ever conceived the idea of applying a stiff non-removable fastener to a bag under an arrangement which necessitates a severing and removing ofa portion of the bag in order to gain access to the contents thereof, such fastener being so constructed at the same time as to prevent it from accidentally slipping and working out of place.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

The combination with a bag or sack, of a permanent non-removable fastener for securing the gathered mouth or neck of the bag and rendering the same non-refillable, said fastener consisting of a staple having the terminal portions thereof flattened and sharpened by beveling on opposite sides, the extremities of said terminal portions, in the act of applying the fastener, being recurved and extended convergently inward, the fastener being compressed tightly around the neck of the bag and the sharpened terminals thereof being simultaneously brought together and driven into the neck under pressure, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE MARTEN BUSKEY.

Witnesses:

RICHARD DORSEY J OHNSEN, GEORGE BANKS. 

